 February 22, 2007
You know what?
Emma is right. I am supposed to be resting. So off I go. My next post on this blog will be when the baby is born, I'm going to turn off comments on this and all other posts so if you want to chat please use my kerrie magknits email account. I'll be handing the HipKnits email address over to the lovely people who are going to manage it while I'm away in the next week or so which means that all magazine, yarn queries need to go to HipKnits and all chatty ones need to go to MagKnits. I'll still be posting business type entries on the HipKnits and YF mag blogs over the next few days while the last few loose ends are tied up. In the meantime, be good and have fun! xx
Posted by Kerrie at 11:34 PM
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Before we get onto today's mindless blather, everyone say a nice big hello to Claire from yesterday's comments. You remember, the one who couldn't think of anything nice to say but at the same time didn't want to leave her real email address? (I know, I tried to email her) It made me laugh when I got home late last night and read the comment (I don't even eat salad!) but as I have a policy of not deleting comments unless they are spam or very very nasty indeed I thought I'd let her stay awhile. Oh how I love being able to have an idea where people come from through their ip addresses, that makes me smile more than anything else sometimes. Sad, nerd that I am.. Yesterday was a nice day pottering around in the shop, taking lots of photos and packing lots of orders. Of course I'm not doing very well at my stopping work altogether plan, you're not surprised at that are you?, but I am slowing down, oh yes. I packed up the last couple of wholesale orders I have outstanding including this lovely Opal sock yarn that is destined for Alison at P2tog. I really wanted to keep one of each for myself but that just wouldn't be right, maybe I'll dye some more for me once the baby is here. From left to right - bouquet, moody, fashion, chocolate cherries and bingo When I sat down to upload all the pics that I'd taken I realised that there were over 100! That's a bumper shop update next week, set for Monday afternoon I think. This will be the last big one before the baby, after that I have plans to keep the silk side well stocked thanks to dad but there won't be as much on the cashmere and other wool side for a couple of months. We'll also only be posting orders out once a week and checking emails less frequently but we'll get through the early baby days OK I think. I'm feeling very lucky that Alexandra takes such good care of the techy side of MagKnits these days, that is not something that I'm worrying about in the slightest. Yarn Forward magazine on the other hand is a constant source of stress and worry. I'm at the point right now when I honestly wish I'd never bothered with it. There is light at the end of the tunnel for issues 3 onwards but right now I wish I could just shut my eyes and make issue 2 go away!
Posted by Kerrie at 06:29 AM
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February 21, 2007
Soapbox
I subscribe to Country Living magazine, it is one of my treats in the month to sit down with a cup of tea and some toast and read through the magazine from cover to cover. I love it. This month the magazine highlights a campaign that everyone in the UK should be aware of, No Cows = No Countryside, Fair Trade for British Farmers. Here are just a few facts from both the article and the website that really shocked me. Its worth spending half an hour or so reading around the website, especially the 5 ways you can help. The farm open days on 10th June sound like a great way to spend a day to me. - The number of dairy farmers has free-falled from nearly 200,000 some 50 years ago to just over 12,000 now. - Dairy farmers are being paid on average 17p per litre for milk, which costs 21p per litre to produce, yet it sells in supermarkets and on the doorstep for around 50p. - 3 dairy famers a day are giving up. - Beef is sold to consumers for less than the cost of production. Beef farmers are losing between £100 to £300 per animal. - Today many fleeces, particularly those of the traditional hill breeds, are worth less than the cost of shearing the sheep. - In the last three years, farm incomes have fallen by a third and now stand at less than £12,000 per farm. I'm glad that we live in a village small enough to still have a local milkman, paying a little extra per pint of milk to have it delivered direct to your door and know that it is more likely to give the farmer a fair price for his milk is worth it to me. I can't imagine Brooke and Cameron's children growing up in a Britain where there are no fields of cows grazing at the side of the road, that's always been taken for granted to me. Go and read some of the farmers blogs as well on the site, it makes it all a little bit more real when you find out exactly how hard these people work for such a small profit.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:32 AM
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February 20, 2007
Wee bunny and blanket
The kids spent some of half term last week with my mum and dad, giving Wayne and I the chance to compete for the title of least capable adult in the house, him due to sickness and me due to pregnancy. We could be found eating dinner late, not doing any laundry and generally existing with as little effort as possible. At one point we stood in Tescos with a basket containing a bottle of non alcoholic wine, a ready cooked apple pie, carton of custard, packet of ready prepared salad, cook in the microwave lasagne and garlic bread. All that despite having a freezer full of healthy food at home, it would have required too much effort to defrost and cook something we felt. It was lovely to have the children home although it took us a while to readjust to not being able to pop a DVD box set in the player at 5pm and just sit there until we fell asleep at around 10, pausing only to answer the door to the Chinese takeaway delivery person in between. Fortunately the kids were much more productive and active and Brooke has singlehandedly managed to restore the family pride in making hand made gifts for the baby. Grandma helped her with the sewing machine and she came home with this wee bunny and blanket that she had made for the new baby? Aren't they gorgeous? (sorry for the dark pictures, its early over here..)
Posted by Kerrie at 08:41 AM
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February 19, 2007
A cautionary tale
So, it was back to school today for the kids and pretty much my last day of dyeing yarn in the shop - woo hoo. I'll still be there on and off this week labelling and packing the yarn but the pressure is off there in a major way. Thank goodness. Its been a tough week for trusting people, I've been wondering whether to vent about it here or just to keep it to myself. In the end, venting won - at least on a couple of the issues. I am one of these people who trust others easily. I naturally assume that everyone out there is honest and reliable and trustworthy and you know what I'm now realising, a lot of them are not. I feel like I need to learn to be more cynical but would that be a shame and I hope it doesn't come to that, I'm still trying to see the good in people but I have been stung twice recently, both on a similar line. Firstly, I received an email from a customer who told me that their order hadn't arrived and asked for a refund. I offered to replace the yarns but no, she wanted a refund. Fair enough. The parcel wasn't sent out with any tracking so there was no way of finding out what happened to it, until I happened to stumble over her blog one day with photos of the yarn on it. Not so clever really, was it? My first thought was that the parcel must have arrived after I refunded her the money and she just hadn't got around to telling me about it (see, trustworthy and thinking the best of people) but no. The blog post was before I refunded her (over £100). No need to go into details of who, what, when and where - it has been sorted now but has left a bad taste in my mouth. Not quite so bad as cautionary tale number 2. A wholesale order with a value of over £600 that was sent out before Christmas and never arrived. The courier company promised to track it down and a replacement was sent out and delivered. I would ring the couriers every couple of days to find out what was happening with the missing box and the lovely person I spoke to in customer services made me feel so confident that it was all going to be OK that I relaxed and trusted (ha - again, why do I do it!?) that she would sort it out for me. Early January I heard that the box was in their main depot and would be sent back to me as soon as they could. It only occured to me a couple of weeks ago that it hadn't arrived and on chasing the courier I found that the lovely helpful person that I spoke to no longer worked there. It gets worse. The box had been destroyed as according to their records it had no address details and no attempt had been made to collect it from the depot. It gets worse. As it had been so long since the box was originally sent with them the time period for any insurance claim had passed and I have now been officially informed by their head office that there is nothing they can do about it. £600 down the drain. Oh good. Annoying isn't it? Add to that some problems that I'm still having with the magazine and you can see why I sometimes try and do everything myself. Rationally I know its not the answer but it makes it a whole lot easier than trusting other people sometimes. I promise you lots of pictures and happy stories tomorrow to make up for all of the silence and misery around here recently..
Posted by Kerrie at 03:59 PM
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February 16, 2007
Subtle hints
I think my body is trying to tell me something. We've had a fairly eventful half term week so far with hospital visits, physio appointments, sick fluey children, sick fluey adults, swollen ankles and fingers, backache, lots of contractions and far more waddling and general discomfort than usual. Its a good job that 90% of my wholesale orders have been sent out and the remainder will be done on Monday / Tuesday isn't it? It is officially time to slow down and make friends with that sofa. I know that you've all been telling me this for weeks but I'm a bit slow to pick up on things sometimes! In cheerful news, I am LOVING the support belt thingy from the physio - it doesnt look too cool but really does help when I'm walking around. Now all I need is a miracle to help with getting comfortable at night and I'll be well away.
So there will be some baby knitting and sewing coming up over the next few weeks, if only to get rid of my shame that I haven't knitted anything specifically for this little one yet! I had lots of visitors in the shop again this week and 2 of them came bearing gifts. Michaela bought this GORGEOUS baby cardigan that she made from some of Dee's organic merino 4 ply (as well as chocolate cake but I've eaten all of that so can't show you), isn't it beautiful? The quality is amazing as well, such neat seams and the inside looks almost as good as the outside. I love it and you may be suprised to know that Wayne was impressed with it as well. Given his dislike of all things knitted that's pretty impressive, don't you think?
Then Julie came in with a special organic cotton rabbit for the baby. I'm in love. Can I keep him for myself? Surely the baby won't mind? If I can wrestle him away from Brooke that is, she has fallen in love and not surprisingly. It is so lovely and well made, I think I need to go and buy lots and lots more from her and have a whole family of rabbits! What do you think?
Posted by Kerrie at 06:05 PM
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February 12, 2007
Half Term week
Thanks for all your support with Sew Hip, we had a really good first few hours of being live! I know that the whole email me to place an order idea isn't the best one but having had experience of Paypal shopping carts with HipKnits I knew that wasn't a direction I wanted to take and I'm not in a position to invest in new shopping cart software a la HipKnits just yet so this seemed like the best choice. Other ideas involved etsy or ebay but I wasn't as keen on that idea. I'm not going to be around here so much this week, here's a few reasons why blogging will be scarce until I'm in maternity leave mode next week. 1 - It is half term so my laptop will be busy doing this, this and this 2 - I have a sick girl who needs lots of cuddles. 3 - My first physio apppoiintment is this week. I seem to be OK during the day, I've mastered getting in and out of the car etc but its at night that I'm really uncomfortable and hobbling around. Here's hoping she has some good suggestions. 4 - I'm meeting with my PR company to finalise our plan of action for this year. Very very excited about some of the ideas that they have for me, its going to be a good one! 5 - 4 wholesale orders to finish dyeing, drying, labelling and posting. More on HipKnits blog about them later in the week. 6 - Coffee and gossip with Anna (this is the current highlight of my plans for the week) 7 - Meeting with potential new design / print team for the magazine. So its a busy week for me this week, excuse me if you don't see much of me here until next Monday.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:10 PM
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Sew Hip
Go on then, tell me what you think? Be gentle with me though, I've bene in html hell all day. I only managed to get about 3/4 of the stock on there due to a whole pile of reasons. I had thought about putting off the launch until tomorrow but then I saw that the lovely Shannon had posted the interview I did with her a couple of weeks ago and I thought that it would be rude to be late with the site when she managed to make me sound almost rational and like I knew what I was talking about! So go and look and even if you dont buy anything please let me know what you think and send me a list of broken links and missing images!
Posted by Kerrie at 05:33 PM
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February 09, 2007
Random Friday
Firstly, we had a great snow day yesterday. Brooke lasted for about an hour outside and built a brilliant snowman whereas Cameron lasted about 5 minutes, or as long as it took him to realise that the snow was wet before he was back inside and on the sofa with me! Bless him. Remember the hat Brooke is wearing, you'll be seeing more of that soon - hey Ruth?
In this picture Cameron had just been told off for the millionth time for kicking down the body of Brooke's snowman. Can you feel his frustration? Can you also tell that I was standing in the utility room in my PJs not wanting to go outside or did I just give that away?!
We had a lovely party for Wayne, thanks for the birthday wishes, the kids and I made chocolate cake with chocolate custard for pudding and homemade wrapping paper for his presents. Love both of their attempts at wrapping paper, don't you?
The postlady braved the weather especially to bring me some lovely lovely BFL roving from Adrian. I thought that I'd ordered 2 x 50g lots but it seems that I mis-converted oz to grams and have ended up with 250g of it. I'm hoping that one day I will be clever enough to spin it into a 4 ply type yarn to make a beautiful shawl out of. So that means Jo has a lot on her plate tomorrow when she drives all the way from the south coast to try and teach me how to use my spinning wheel. Excited? Much? Me? Oh yes! What else? A couple of colours of lace cashmere and one sock cashmere on the site at HipKnits, more and more coming soon. Yarn Forward Magazine website finally updated after tonnes of techy issues there. Sew Hip ready for its go live on Monday lunchtime - woo hoo. That's it for webby news. Finally, while we are feeling all random what do you think of this? Interesting photo to have at the top of the "You are now 35 weeks page" on baby centre don't you think? Hands up how many mums feel that this depicted them accurately at 35 weeks? Grrrrrr.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:53 AM
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February 08, 2007
Visitors and Cakes AKA why I love people popping into the shop
I've had a really sociable week in the shop this week! Mandy has been in 2 days with me to help me finish off those jobs that have been lingering for ages. It makes the day go so much quicker when you have someone to gossip with, you know. Then on Tuesday Julie popped in to see me and bought home made cake! Visitors bearing home made cakes (especially ones as lovely as the one Julie made) are always welcome in the shop, remember that OK?! Today is a snow day for me, I had hoped to get the rest of my wholesale orders dyed but oh no, with the few inches of snow outside my house I'm going to walk Brooke into school, bring Cam back home with me and snuggle in. I'm still holding out for a school closure for Brooke, that way we could all stay in the warm all day together, but its not looking likely. Can't say I'm enthusiastic about the 1/2 mile walk in this weather with a very excited 2.5 year old and dodgy hips but I think we'll be OK if we take it slow. Most depressingly for me is the fact that I will have to wear footwear other than my crocs! Shock horror.. Snoe photos later on. Today is Wayne's birthday (note - we nearly always have some snow on his birthday, never this much though) so the kids and I are planning a party for him when he gets home from work tonight. If Brooke gets to stay home from school that gives us lots more time for baking cakes. Wouldn't that be nice? Edited to add - Woo Hoo, snow day - school closed. :)
Posted by Kerrie at 08:08 AM
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February 07, 2007
Oh My Gosh
Proud mother alert. Proud mother alert. About a year ago Brooke spent a day with Debbie Bliss and her team doing some modelling for a new book that Debbie was working on. She had a FAB time and at Ally Pally Debbie bought me over some copies of the proof of the book which looked just gorgeous. She mentioned that Brooke "might" be on the cover of the book which was something that we just couldn't dream would happen but here she is. Gorgeous huh? The pictures of her inside the book are just even more gorgeous if that's possible. Oh, and of course - the cardigan she is wearing is also perfect.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:54 AM
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February 06, 2007
That was an unexpected silence from me yesterday, you don't get nice peaceful days like that too often do you? I'm not sure why, I think its because I have SO much to say at the moment that I just don't know where to start. This week is a busy one for me, I'm in the shop dyeing wholesale orders all day every day, well at least for 6 hours while the kids are in school, and I expect to spend most of the evenings in some kind of yarn induced coma on the sofa in front of the TV. Lots happening with children and babies around here as well as with HipKnits (and Yarn Forward Magazine, and SewHip) we saw the midwife on Friday who confirmed that the baby was about the right size (looking more and more like a girl all the time, Cam measured 4-5cm over every midwife visit) head down and nice and active. Like I didn't know the last bit already. Now, I'm not very good at asking people for help but I had decided in advance to mention the incredible pain in my hips at night and in my pubic bone for most of the day and night. The midwife diagnosed me with SPD (I can't spell it!) and has arranged for me to see a physio. How bizarre, I didn't even know that was something that could happen when you're pregnant, I'd just put it down to general aches and pains of being HUGE. I've been working hard on SewHip and we're ready for a go live day of next Monday. It will be around lunchtime as I have a reflexology appointment in the morning (yum, relaxing). I've already promised myself that I can keep one of the Japanese craft books for myself, the problem is that I can't choose which one! Oh, and the other big news of the day is Alison's new book which I know that she has worked so so hard on for the last 8 months or so. It is a Harry Potter knitting book, I have a pattern in it, and the little sneak previews that I've seen look amazing. Well done Alison and I can't wait to see the book when its out in a couple of months.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:17 AM
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February 02, 2007
6 weird things.
You guys are great, thanks for all the supportive and lovely comments and emails yesterday. I took pretty much the whole day off from all things email and laptop related and sat on a friends sofa drinking tea, gossiping and watching day time TV. It was the perfect antidote, and how lovely to come back to a laptop full of knitterly love. You all quite made my day, thank you. My current plan to get things moving with the problem involves legal action and also turning up at their offices and trying so hard to give birth in their reception area - that should get their attention don't you think? Lets hope it all sorts itself out by Monday as I've been led to believe it will. On the agenda for today is a midwife's appointment this morning, then a few hours in the shop this afternoon followed by a take away tonight for dinner. The weekend is all about sleep, knitting and family. I think I'll be ready to face the real world again by Monday, or at least I hope I will. In the meantime I've decided to join in with that 6 weird things about me meme that I've seen floating around for a while. I am pretty odd so lets hope this doesn't seem too freaky to the rest of the world. 1 - I love bubble baths but cannot bear the thought of the bubbles touching my skin. This means that I have to have them all piled up at the bottom of the bath neer the taps, nothing makes my skin crawl more than to lay back and feel bubbles around my shoulders, neck and back. Cringe. 2 - I cant sleep at night if there are ANY cracks of light peeking through the curtains. I will get out of bed and walk over and adjust the curtains if I notice any little cracks of light shining on the wall. 3 - I have balloon phobia. The sight, smell, texture of them whether blown up or not just makes me want to run away from them. Dont get me started on the noise that they make when they pop or that horrid horrid sound when someone rubs them against their clothes and tries to get enough friction going to stick them to something. UGH. Balloons should really be banned as far as I'm concerned. 4 - Breakfast to me is 2 weetabix, crumbled up with a little sugar and milk. Nothing else is breakfast. If I have to eat something else then I'll spend all day feeling like I haven't had any breakfast and telling anyone who will listen that I'm hungry because I missed out on breakfast. 5 - I dont like heights. In fact I'm petrified of heights. Josie and I were talking about this yesterday and we both share the same weird feeling as though if we get to close to the edge of a roof / car park etc that we're scared we might just jump off. I can actually picture myself falling and landing on the ground and just can't bear to go close to the edge. Sily huh? 6 - I need to be balanced. If my left arm itches and I scratch it I have to then scratch my right arm in the same place. If I scratch my right arm harder than I did my left so the sensation is different in each then I have to go back and scratch the left one again so that they are both even. This goes for everything, I can't bear someone to squeeze one foot, one shoulder or anything - I need to be balanced!
Posted by Kerrie at 06:32 AM
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February 01, 2007
Meltdown
So, if Tuesday was a 4 doughnut day then yesterday would have been one of those days when there simply wasn't enough doughnuts in the whole world to make it all better. You know when things happen that are just SO unbelieveable it makes you pause and wonder whether it is real or you are dreaming? That was yesterday. An email arrived at about 9.30 that I was so excited to receive. I opened the attachment, looked at it once, twice to make sure I wasn't seeing things then closed the attachment and the email, shut my laptop screen down and walked away from the desk. I honestly stood in the middle of the room for about 5 minutes with my hands on my head, wondering what on earth had just happened. Peeking back at the email revealed that yes, it was still there and no, it wasn't a dream. Damn on both accounts. What next? Was it time to be sick, cry or ring a good friend who I knew would understand and who was as baffled as I was when I forwarded the email on to her. All 3 I think. I'm not the kind of person who gives up easily but I'm close on this one. Wish I could tell you more and show you what it was that threw me so much but I can't. I am so tempted but Dee persuaded me that it was probably the best way to find myself in court and that venting in that way was probably very slighly illegal. You think so? Dad agreed with her so tempting as it may be, I'll just keep on keeping it to myself (and the half a dozen family and friends who helped with the meltdown yesterday) For now, this picture is for Tracy. See, it is possible. From left to right as named by Cameron we have Weeble Doggy, Weeble Froggy and BoBo Chicken. Keep focussing on them and you may not notice what else is going on around here. That's my plan for the day, as well as visiting a friend and getting away from it all for a few hours.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:30 AM
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